Stemming, Cleaning, and Preparing Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Sorrel

Unless you’re using it in a salad, look for the kind of spinach with large crinkly leaves—removing the stems will take much less time. I sometimes buy spinach in bags, but if you do this, look through the bag to make sure the spinach isn’t spoiling (it will look slimy where the leaves touch the bag). When you get home, remove the stems and wash the spinach one more time.

To de-stem spinach and sorrel, peel the stem away from the back of the leaf so you don’t remove the stem just where it joins the leaf but also where it runs up the leaf. To destem Swiss chard, cut the stems away from the leafy part with a knife. Next, put the leaves in a large bowl of cold water, lift them out with your splayed fingers, and feel the bottom of the bowl. If you feel sand or grit, rinse out the bowl and repeat until there’s no grit. Spin the leaves dry in a salad spinner.